Last Week in Paradise

Last week in paradise. What should you do?..........GO TO THE BEACH!!!!
This was our mentality since our papers were now finished, but first we had learn about domestic violence. We started off the week going to the beach, but returning in the evening to hear a lecture on domestic violence in Mexico. We did the same thing on Tuesday but also spent time preparing for our presentation to high school students which we were set to give the next day. Here is a picture of us arriving at the high school early wednesday morning.

Because it is difficult to talk about domestic violence with students who have probably seen it within their own families, we focused on the primary source of domestic violence, inequality. We had each group of tables create a poster for men and a poster for women with all the characteristic about each gender on them. Once finished, we explained the similarities between the posters and how we could have switched the men and women titles and the characteristics would have still held true. This activity was meant to challenge the uneven gender roles that persist in Mexican culture and hopefully eliminate some gender stereotypes.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, and although they do not celebrate this holiday in Mexico, our group chose to host our own thanksgiving feast and invite everyone involved in the program. The feast was a potluck and my house was in charge of making the green bean casserole. Here is a picture of me preparing the green beans. 

Here is a picture of the table full of food. It was sort of an ironic thanksgiving in that we couldn't find any turkey to cook, but then saw a turkey roaming the streets near our house the next day. It was still amazing though because we had chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, deviled eggs, gravy, rolls, and everything else related to this hungry holiday.

Here is everyone enjoying their food. The best part of the entire meal was all the wonderful desserts that people made. Of course, no one leaves room for dessert on Thanksgiving so we were stuck in these seats for a while till we were ready for round two.

Here are some more show-off pictures of the beaches we were at throughout the week. We went to the beach everyday the last week in Puerto Escondido. I don't know how we got anything done here as these beaches were right within our reach.

Here is a picture of some of us relaxing in the shade before we embark on another great day at the beach. It was nice to relax in these chairs with a coconut and a straw when you got tired of the sun. Yup, coconut on the beach....be jealous haha.

One evening we all got henna tattoos. For those of you that haven't heard about these, they are TEMPORARY (don't worry) and only last for about two week. For some reason a game started to see who could get the most ridiculous tattoos out of the group. I first went with a crab clinging to my nipple.

Next, I got the superman logo on my back because my shoulders were fried and it looked like I had a red cape on. Unfortunately, the red color of my sunburn isn't very visible in this picture. Some of the other tattoos that people got were winnie the pooh, unicorns, dalmations, and my friend paul even got dolphins on his lower back, a position commonly used with women. It was a lot of fun at the moment but when I look at these tattoos now I am thankful that they will be gone in a week or so haha.

The next day we went for a walk to the corner of the beach near our house. At this corner there were several tide pools, caves, and tunnels that we wanted to see for ourselves.

The reputation of this corner was not underplayed and there were caves and tunnels everywhere. Here is a picture of us in one of the coves that only sees water at night. Also, I know the speedo is becoming a little too much, but I figure I should rock it while I still can and while I am in a country where it is socially acceptable to wear one haha.

This is our little mermaid pose for all you Disney fans out there haha.

For our last day in Puerto Escondido we chose to spend the entire day at the beach with the whole group. Here is a picture of most of us playing in the water. I am on the far right just joining the group.

This is one of those pictures that most of you will look at and say, "show-off" but I am okay with it because this is one of those pictures that I will someday show to my grandkids and use it as an example that they can do anything haha. Okay okay, that last part is a little unreal but it could happen haha. Plus, it is a very cool picture.

We returned to our home for food and each took part in swinging at a piñata. We didn't want to travel to Mexico for 11 weeks and forget to buy a piñata. As you can see, this is a picture of my backswing, meaning a missed my first time. Don't worry, I didn't strike out. I hit the piñata on both my second and third tries.

We returned to the beach as the sun was setting and the girls in the program started a photo shoot. My friend Jonji and I decided to jump in and take some pictures as well. These are our sexy model looks haha. As you can see, our looks were to much to handle and the girls soon fled the scene. 

These are the men of the program. It is hard to see but we are actually holding up a "M" with our top hand and a "V" with our bottom hand. No, this is not a gang sign. It actually stands for MAN VAN, which is a statement we made up on the trip. You see, every time we got in the van to go on a brigade or to give a presentation we took the opportunity to have a van full of men. Then, when the girls walked by to get in the van we would all yell MAN VAN and shut the door. It may sound mean, but some very valuable and memorable things were shared on these man trips haha.

Here is a picture as the sun sets and all of us standing there saying goodbye to Puerto Escondido. What a great trip at the beach it has been and I hope to return someday to further share my experience with my family. My experience here was truly amazing and something I will remember forever. Only one week left and I am coming home!!!!!! Please comment and thanks for reading.